To make sense of this photo....The big mound is Mamma Owl, with her tail sticking up. (The grassy stuff is grass, blown in there during our Big Windy Day, back in September.
I ran into Jack Verdin again, (a local wildlife photographer), and he has been watching closely...he described the ritual of the owl standing up, turning and waddling around the chick. And then the owl demonstrated. Jack and others used an infrared camera to look through the bottom of the nest can and they saw at least two warm circles. Hard to tell how many babies are in there until they are big enough to peer over the top. And that nest can must be FULL of stuff, for the Mamma to be sitting up so high in the nest. Ewwww.....rabbit skulls and mallard feet and pellets!
At least one sweet little future-predator is up there, food-begging and growing.
Ahh. Life is good.
7 comments:
Wow....thermal infrared imaging!! Very cool...
I hope I can head over this week to check them out. Do they do any feeding during the day or is it mostly at night?
So cool!! I can't believe owls have their babies this early in the year. I can't wait till you find out how many are up there with her.
This is so cool!! Lovin' those baby owls!!
Kelly: You must come down and see. There isn't much going on during the day (hourly stand-ups and waddling) but near dusk I'm sure the male swoops in and the female leaves, food is served, etc.
Kim: The GHOW give their babies a headstart in the world by having them early. By the time the young fledge, there are LOTS of yummy things running around to eat! The banding will be in a few weeks, so we can count then.
Pam: I know, right? Sweet little piles of dryer lint!
They remind me of fuzz-balls with big eyes.
Yeah, fuzz-balls with huge eyeballs... I read this post grinning from ear to ear. It's so darned wonderful.
Thanks, Susan.
I think our local GHO is sitting on owlets also. I took a photo of her and she looks all fluffed up and I think I saw a shell in the corner of the cave. I'm going to post a photo later this week.
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